Short Story

By Jeremy Albaster
In the dim light from the doorway, her fringed eyes seemed part of the felt. The two girls were introduced to the young man in a formal but inviting manner. As if their comparative youth might bond them, thus taking care of the younger guests for the afternoon.
“These are my two princesses.” He smiled down at them and then added “Don’t let them get you into any trouble.” They all laughed accordingly before the adults manoeuvred themselves inside. The young man, only nineteen but soon to be twenty was not yet considered for the adult conversations that centred on such middle-class worries as ‘where to shop’ or ‘how good the wine was’. So far in life he’d been spared the horrors of trying to sell a house in a bad market or of deciding colour schemes for the spare room. He didn’t mind too much being stuck with the two children. He still had an unbound freshness within that meant he hovered towards the younger crowd in situations like this anyway. It had been unspoken but assumed in the journey over, that he would entertain the two girls, and so, upon introductions and pleasantries he agreed to take them out for a walk.

The country roads leading up to the small house were lined with dry stone walls and grass that tugged at the ankles. Surrounding them, the crisp countryside was illuminated by long strips of sunlight that stretched down through the low valley whilst shadows played beyond them. The girls said they knew of a stream that flowed through a huge canopy of trees where they’d built a make shift house only last week. They were young, twelve and thirteen, and still enjoyed the childish delights that imagination, coupled with a limitless freedom offered. Indeed they looked as natural as the trees to him, almost skipping as they fluttered down through bush and dry mud deeper into a set of tall trees that guarded the top of the valley. Erica, the eldest of the girls adorned a prettiness that sat nervously on the edge of womanhood whilst retaining a distinct innocence most noticeable in her tender thin body and pale virginal skin. She was the prettier one but Violet was also an attractive young girl, albeit rounder and rougher with fuller lips and hair that flowed as opposed to the flattened, straight hair of her elder sister. Erica was wearing a soft pink dress that balanced delicately upon her skin and quivered in the slight breeze that meandered through the firs. Violet had on a white denim dress with small flowers of green and purple that cut off just at the top of her thighs.

“How far down is it?” He called out in front of him, but the girls responded almost in unison that it wasn’t far and seemed to quicken their pace at times disappearing into the thickening trees. In front of them he could see rays of sunlight that pierced the cover in V-shape shards, lighting only patches of the crumpled forest leaves on the floor. He’d decided they were leading him nowhere fast and that they might get lost which would hardly add to his credentials as an adult in waiting. An instant responsibility kicked in and he began to speed up so as not to lose sight of the girls. As Erica came back into view he stumbled over a tree branch and fell to the floor throwing his hands out into the dirt. He lay for a moment and then turned onto his back, first examining his hands for cuts and then placing them by his side as he breathed hard into the air. Small patches of bright sunshine filtered through the leaves that floated high above him. He smelled the fresh forest floor. It occurred to him that he was surrounded by an all pervading sense of unfamiliarity and with this his confidence shrunk. He glanced up towards the hill they’d descended and for a moment the trees seemed to move as if they were the stilts of giants. He felt a gasp of wind flow over him and for the first time he could hear the stream and the steady flow of the water. He felt cleansed.

“Get up!” Violet called out with a smile full of laughter and delight as she jumped on top of him and straddled him. As she did this he couldn’t help but notice that the lowest button of her dress popped open with a metallic fizz and stretched the tight denim up further along her thighs. “We’re almost there.” She sprung herself off from him and began to run down towards where the sounds of water were coming from. He lifted himself to his feet and started to follow the sounds of the girls that came from ahead. After passing through a set of bushes he came to a clearing where a small patch of ground caused the stream to bend around it. Erica sat at the edge removing her shoes carefully and placed them to her left but there was no sign of Violet. Erica turned to smile an approving smile, as if congratulating him for making it this far before plunging her feet into the water. She let out a shrill cry of delight as it ran about her toes and ankles sending shivers up the tiny hairs of her legs. He removed his shoes and socks, and steppe cautiously amongst the grass towards the stream where Erica now stood proudly inviting him in. He dipped the toes of his left foot in and feeling the cold quickly pulled them out.

“Come in you coward!” Erica called as she began to cross the stream towards the other side. He smiled and tried once again, this time plunging both feet in at the same time, but the smile turned to a grimace as he tried not to swear and instead let out a sort of ooo-aahh-fff and promptly stepped onto a rock that stuck out from the water. The young man looked out to Erica and saw that she was enjoying the cold water, lifting out one leg at a time and kicking up the spray upstream. He stared down at her chest and saw her nipples pointing outwards underneath the soft material of her dress. He turned away and jumped back onto dry land and stood for a moment with his hands on his hips like an adventurer. He scanned the tree-line for Violet but seeing nothing turned once again to Erica. She’d noticed he’d turned his attention away from the stream and pointed towards a set of carefully placed branches clumped together in front of a thick set of holly bushes. He stood for a moment sunning his feet before slipping on his shoes and making for the wood pile.

There was a small passageway between two large branches and as he neared, he heard Violet’s faint voice react to his shadow.
“You have to knock and tell me who’s there first.”
He duly tapped the wood with his knuckles.
“It’s Nicholas.”
“What’s the magic word?” She said almost wryly, giggling as she did.
“I have no idea.” Nick replied, staring for a moment at the achievements of the two girls, before entering through the passageway. On the floor was a black felt rug and on top of it Violet sat cross legged. It was surprisingly dark inside and Nick struggled to make out her figure until he shifted out of the entrance. The light poured in halfway, and through the dust he crouched, staring at Violet’s naked body, her dress unbuttoned to reveal no underwear. He sat for a moment, taken aback by the exquisite nature of her young developing body, seemingly frozen as the stream in winter. She moved quickly towards him and kissed him on the lips. Still he didn’t move, and for a moment afterwards he hated that he had not retracted his head even a little. A scream broke the silence, and Violet’s head turned sharply in the direction of outside before she reached for his hand and pulled it in between her legs gasping as she did. Nick retracted his arm, turned and crawled out. Again in the clearing, he was struck by the brightness of the sun, was temporarily blinded. Eventually the brightness dulled and he saw Erica climbing out of the water, her dress stuck to her shivering body, water dripping down from her hair and a fragile smile on her face.
“I fell in!” She laughed, and Nick rushed towards her to give her his jacket. He wrapped it around her and held her tightly to him. His hard breathing matched hers and she pulled back momentarily to look at him and then looked across to Violet as she emerged from the trees. Behind him the trees rose up like organ pipes and seemed to play out loudly an ominous set of notes that none of them quite understood.